Sitting at his desk, Keith Cochrane gazes up as one of his potential team riders walks into the warehouse. The kid, who is no older than eleven, walks over with his skateboard in his hand. As he sits there talking to this young phenom of the Embarcadero skating community, his attention is suddenly caught by a bright, fluorescent sticker on the bottom of the board: “Think fresh produce.” A light bulb goes off in Cochrane’s head as he stares at the word “think.” He immediately gets in his car, ideas rapidly flowing, and rushes over to Thrasher Magazine to present his artist friend with the idea for his company name. Within one hour of brainstorming for a logo, Think skateboarding company was born.

Chris Bielmeier is a newcomer to the West Coast in his freshman year of college. The abundance of trees, clean air and the breathtakingly beautiful landscape of Lake Tahoe could lure anyone in, but for this New Yorker it’s something more—snow. As he meets new people, he finds they share his passion as well, and ironically, many of them are from the Big Apple as well. The crew of snowboarding fanatics start calling themselves NYCA (New York to California), identifying themselves from one coast to the next and everything in between. Sitting in class, Bielmeier begins drawing up logos to make stickers for him and his friends to put on their gear. Initially, NYCA never intended to make anything beyond a short film of the crew snowboarding, but a bit of sketching leads him to much more. “It was like the best name and image for a company just fell into my lap. It was never chosen or thought of, it just happened,” Bielmeier says.

In the skateboarding and snowboarding industry, there are those making a name for themselves behind the scenes, many of whom happen to be young adults. It hasn’t been easy for these guys to break in, but being the consumer and innovator has made them the experts rather than just another fancy suit trying to make a quick buck. For Keith Cochrane, co-founder of Think Skateboards, and Chris Bielmeier, founder of NYCA-Lifestyles, their fresh, creative ideas and true passion for the sport have influenced what they bring to the table.

Cochrane has been working in the skateboarding scene for a few years. A skater in his early twenties, he cannot pass up the opportunity to help run the company Dogtown Skateboards—despite his empty pockets. He sacrifices his college fund and a $10,000 loan from his two business partners, and the three buy half of Dogtown. But over time, the boys develop a new plan in exchange for their shares of the company. They sell back their half of the company in order to develop Think Skateboards. “Times were tough when we started our company. Skateboarding was at an all-time low and it was hard. People were really fighting for every dollar,” Cochrane says of the company that he started back in 1991.

In the snowboarding industry, there seems to be a lot of garbage. Chris Bielmeier intends to do something different by relating to everyone rather than appealing to a tiny niche of supporters, like most companies seem to be doing. Unfortunately, his personal savings and some help from his mom aren’t going to cut it financially. Bielmeier is stuck. However, his ambition and support from his buddies are enough drive to lead him to an answer. He discovers investor Christian Peterson, and as the two talk business, Christian can see that Bielmeier has the passion and fire in his eyes to make NYCA-Lifestyles a successful venture. “Where Chris may be young in age, he continually impresses me on his business abilities. His appearance is deceiving, and at times, he displays better business insight than most seasoned executives,” says Peterson. “Every direction he takes is well researched before he acts, and (Chris) has his finger on the pulse of the community.”

Overnight, the transition from vertical skating to street skating was in effect. Cochrane and his partners work with it in a way that people seem to believe is crazy. Smaller boards and wheels accompanied by lower trucks are in the works. They may not be the best businessmen, but being the reckless skateboarders that they are actually makes Cochrane and his partners more desirable. “At the time we would buy four hundred boards and we would sell them and then buy more. Y’know it was kind of like a drug deal. You buy with whatever money you had and then sell it, and try to get your money back as soon as possible,” says Cochrane. As he travels nonstop, doing tons of grassroots promotion and sleeping on couches, Cochrane is driven by determination to do what it takes to build an empire.

Striving to create a company with exclusive high-quality gear, Bielmeier is directly influenced by hip-hop as he designs the product. As he spends every waking moment on NYCA-Lifestyles, he uses caution before spending every dollar. Limited-edition artist series boards that shy away from the traditional cookie-cutter designs are one of Bielmeier’s innovations that allow riders to shred where they please. “He has more motivation than almost anyone else I know of and an equally impressive work ethic. He is completely dedicated to the success of the company and handles everything in a professional manner that far exceeds his age,” says friend Mat Inglis.

Robin Williams’s guest appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show is a turning point for fashion gurus. The phones are ringing as frantic callers question where to get their hands on the new, trendy Think hat he is wearing. This unexpected push for the guys at Think has them thinking. What better way to publicize their goods than by breaking into the Hollywood scene? With the help of their publicist, Think discovers the path to movie stardom. “We didn’t leave any rock unturned. We were definitely not afraid to try stuff. We just kept throwing shit against the wall to see what stuck,” says Cochrane.

The stardom route is something that appeals to Bielmeier as well, and his introduction to hip-hop artist Curren$y has him ecstatic. Along with a majority of the NYCA crew, he admires the musical talent, and Chris is inspired to find that Curren$y likes what NYCA-Lifestyles is all about and wants to be involved. Forming an alliance with a major artist on the rise, Bielmeier sees the potential behind having someone people idolize representing NYCA-Lifestyles, and a signature NYCA/Fly Society denim line is a deal in the works. Bielmeier also plans to drop the first full line of clothing this spring, including jeans made from only the highest quality Japanese and European denim, ring-spun cotton shirts and custom fitted hats.

For Cochrane, the success of Think became more than he could handle. For the sake of his family and peace of mind, Cochrane left Think four years ago, which today is a main staple in the skateboarding industry. “It’s not that I don’t love Think; I have it tattooed on my arm. It’s a part of me and always will be whether I’m there behind the desk or not,” says Cochrane. As for Bielmeier, he envisions a very bright future for his four-year-old company NYCA-Lifestyles. “If it takes us a couple years to build a name in the industry, that’s fine, nothing happens overnight,” says Bielmeier. “As long as we continue receiving people’s support and the determination is not lost, we’ll get to where we want to be as a company.”